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from the put-the-phone-down-and-snuggle dept.
As the numbers of smartphones and other personal electronic devices have risen, so has the prevalence of insomnia and sleep deprivation. And though these two things generally correlate, there hasn't been good data on how often these devices are being used, by whom, and the relationship between their use and the incidence of sleep disorders. A group of researchers from the University of California San Francisco set out to collect this data with the help of people enrolled in the Health eHeart Study. Their results are presented in a paper published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.
Total screen-time over 30 days was a median 38.4 hours (IQR 21.4 to 61.3) and average screen-time over 30 days was a median 3.7 minutes per hour (IQR 2.2 to 5.5). Younger age, self-reported race/ethnicity of Black and "Other" were associated with longer average screen-time after adjustment for potential confounders. Longer average screen-time was associated with shorter sleep duration and worse sleep-efficiency. Longer average screen-times during bedtime and the sleeping period were associated with poor sleep quality, decreased sleep efficiency, and longer sleep onset latency.
A total of 653 participants ran a smartphone app that monitored the number of minutes in each hour the screen was on. The total and average screentime were computed, as well as the average screen-time during self-reported bedtime hours and sleeping periods. Participant demographics, medical information, and sleep habits were obtained using a survey. What is notable about this work is that this is the first large study that directly measured screentime usage and compared it to demographics and medical information; however, sleep habits were measured only once using a survey.
Their conclusions, as summed up in the paper:
These findings on actual smartphone screen-time build upon prior work based on self-report and confirm that adults spend a substantial amount of time using their smartphones. Screen-time differs across age and race, but is similar across socio-economic strata suggesting that cultural factors may drive smartphone use. Screen-time is associated with poor sleep. These findings cannot support conclusions on causation. Effect-cause remains a possibility: poor sleep may lead to increased screen-time. However, exposure to smartphone screens, particularly around bedtime, may negatively impact sleep.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @01:40PM
I have to think that waking up to a danger alert every morning has a bigger effect on sleep than any sort of lighting.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:37PM
Then don't do that. I wake up to the playing of the radio instead.
I do add a traditional alarm clock in the rare case when time is tight (e.g. if I have to catch a specific train going early enough that I don't want to add too much safety time). But that's the exception rather than the rule.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:04PM
Grand OP might be confusing cause and effect, if I'm not sick or doing something dumb, basically if I get a good nights sleep, I wake up a couple minutes before the alarm would have gone off, so I shut it off so as not to annoy other sleeping people. Sometimes I go a couple weeks between being woken up by the buzzer. Things get unpleasant twice a year due to daylight savings time, but I'm about back to normal now.
The alarm is supposed to be a failsafe more than an activation signal. And if you're always operating on the emergency failsafe, you're probably doing something wrong before the alarm goes off, the problem isn't the alarm itself.
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Wednesday November 16 2016, @02:53AM
I wake up [...] before the alarm would have gone off, so I shut it off so as not to annoy other sleeping people.
Easy, when it's set to 8 PM...
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @04:44PM
I've always found those light alarms, the kind that steadily get brighter, are the gentlest way to wake up if you have to be up by a certain time. If you don't need to be up by a certain time that is different from when you usually wake, I've always been a fan of being an early bird. You get a couple of hours of blessed quiet because everyone else is still asleep, there's no panic when it comes time to go to work, and work isn't the sole focus and purpose of your day but merely another set of activities to undertake. It dramatically lowers your stress while giving you a headstart in finding a healthy work/life balance.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @09:08PM
I find I get those benefits better by working a 3-11 shift :) Waking up earlier than 7 or 8 am makes me physically ill (even if I do it regularly for months straight.) I tend to naturally wake up around 10 or 11, so working 3-11 I get a few hours to get ready without rushing and maybe get a bit of work done, then I get home around midnight and get a few hours of peace and quiet before bed.
A few years back I used to use my computer as my alarm...it'd say "Good Morning", gimme the weather forecast for the day, read the top Slashdot headlines, and then start playing some music. That was a pretty easy way to wake up. Works even better if the computer is on the other side of the room and you can't shut it off without getting up. And better still if you make that song something rather loud and embarrassing, so you end up racing to shut it off before it gets there ;)